Integrated Multi-Approach towards Mycotoxin Control for Improved Food Security and Nutrition in Eastern Ethiopia

Mycotoxins present a huge global challenge to food security and limits the achievement of at least 10 of the 17 UN SDGs. The impacts of mycotoxin contamination of foods are more pronounced in the low-income settings, such as in rural Eastern Ethiopia. MyControl-ET adopts a community-driven, participatory approach to tackle the mycotoxin challenge in staple crops in Ethiopia for the sustainable improvement of food security and nutrition at the farmer household level. MyControl-ET achieves this by:
1.    gathering evidence-based, climate-linked contamination data for prediction and proactive risk management, and to inform targeted mycotoxin interventions in staple crops
2.    creating access to farm inputs for local farmer households, empowering vulnerable populations including women and youths with dietary diversification skills, improving local capacity for mycotoxin testing, maintaining gender inclusivity in the management of mycotoxins, and 
3.    fostering sustainable synergies among stakeholders through revitalizing the operations of farmer cooperatives, targeted convenings for sensitization, and effective dissemination of tailored information toolkits on integrated mycotoxin control measures for rural farmer households
Major highlights of MyControl-ET will be the development of novel fermented foods from local staples, improvement of livelihood, and provision of access to safer foods for farmer households. The future scientific generation benefits through the training of masters’ students in the embedded scholarship scheme tenable at BOKU University, Austria.